Phew! Now that the holidays are over and you are not working 70-hour weeks or planning your holiday specials, you can take it easy and put your email marketing campaign on autopilot or significantly slow down your sending, right?

If you said yes, you are dead wrong! This is the perfect opportunity to keep sending emails to your subscribers. Remember, your subscribers were being deluged with emails not only from you, but also from everyone else trying to sell a product or service.

Here are eight tips to help you keep your email marketing campaigns flowing and start off the New Year with a bang!

After Holiday SalesPeople are looking for deals, especially for themselves. Start the year off right and offer an incentive to shop. Since gift cards are so popular, they will be looking to use the ones they got for the holidays now, and you can capture their interest while they are thinking about spending money. You can also offer gift certificates since some people may still need late gifts.

Provide InformationThis is a perfect time to inform your subscribers about your company, staff, products, and services. Why not tell them about specials you will have later in the year, so that they look forward to those emails? You can also use this opportunity to clarify your return or refund policies.

This is also a great time to tell your subscribers what makes your company better than your competitors. Why should they choose your company? If you have great customer service, let them know. If you offer something that no one else does, why hide it?

Overstock and AvailabilitySell off inventory or fill up your service calendar. Now is the time to offer your overstock inventory at a discount or fill those available timeslots on your service calendar. The only thing you need to do is remind them of what you have and what your availability is. Trust me, there are people looking for holiday decorations and may need to schedule a service or appointment. Make it easy for them!

Show GratitudeMake sure to thank your customers and clients for their patronage in 2012. A small thank you can go a long way. Just send a warm-hearted message or offer something to your subscribers for being loyal. Either way, it lets them know you care.

Product and Service ReviewsDid you receive rave reviews in the last few months? Show them off! Send out an email with reviews of popular products and services. You can also encourage people to create reviews. With services like Yelp and Angie’s List, reviews and recommendations are all the rage. Consumers want to know if they can trust you and will be satisfied. Head it off at the pass and proactively provide that information.

Contests and Social Media Promotion Have a contest where users can submit photos of their favorite holiday gift or experience. People love to win things and share photos. You can also promote your social media channels, like Pinterest, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Twitter. Use Pinterest or Facebook to facilitate a contest, or use feedback you received from Facebook or Twitter as content for your email. Let subscribers know how people are engaging with your brand.

Test, Test, TestThis is the best time to start your testing. What do your clients/customers want? Is it free shipping or more of a discount? Find out by testing the content and subject lines of your emails. By testing, you will be able to learn more about your subscribers earlier in the year and be able to formulate your marketing campaigns around the results.

Learn From the PastRemember to set a goal for your email campaigns, and measure and analyze the results. By using the data from last year (if you have it), you should be able to learn what worked and what did not for this time of the year. Do not make the same mistakes twice! Did you offer a product or service that was so horrible that no one paid attention, or did you have success with something? Do something similar or better.

If you do not have data from last year, make sure that you save the data from this year. You will need it!

I hope that you find these ideas helpful and that it does not cause you to start working 70-hour weeks again. I am confident that if you use some of these ideas, you will keep the revenue flowing and may stop your graphs from falling off a cliff.